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Blackblade 03.0 - Jack Callahan and the Ember Gang
As Raito, Caelan and Ragoom walked out onto the streets, each lost and disillusioned in their own way, they crossed paths with a young woman wearing the white robes of Liartia. When she saw Ragoom and learned that he possessed clerical magic, she begged him to go to the hospital and see if he could help a man beset with a strange illness: obviously deadly, causing weakness, delirium and respiratory issues leading to coma, but also highly resistant to treatment. Apparently, all of the other clerics were out of town, on a yearly pilgrimage to the Temple of Liartia for a religious observance, and the doctors and nurses on staff were not able to help this patient any. They hurried to the hospital, a very recently-built place that doubled as a shrine to Liartia, and were led to the ill man. Ragoom expended much of his healing magic on the man, but was able to stabilize him. The nurse thanked him profusely, and said that the man needed rest. The three decided that they had little else to do in the evening, so they asked for room and board in the hospital, which the nurse readily acquiesced to. The next morning, the man regained consciousness; he introduced himself as Johnson, and begged the cleric to hurry to his village, Marilton, which had been beset by the plague that had claimed him. He still seemed weak and confused, but assured the group that if the village could be saved, they would be rewarded generously. Ragoom agreed, though Caelan thought that it was a distraction from his goal that could not be suffered. Raito considered the benefits of being "rewarded generously", and agreed to help the man, to his relief. The three decided to set out after acquiring some supplies at the market. While purchasing food with what little money they had left, Ragoom managed to spot a familiar figure hanging about the street: Jack Callahan, the thief who had robbed them yesterday. Raito, enraged, instructed Ragoom and Caelan to approach the thief from either side and intimidate him. Figuring that he would attempt to escape into the nearby ally, Raito would run ahead and cut him off, allowing him to regain his lost honour, and hopefully collect on the man's bounty. However, when the two men approached him, Jack seemed nonplussed; he bade them good afternoon and asked if he could help them with anything. Taken aback, as neither had any sort of instruction about what to do if he didn't run, the two stammered a bit before Ragoom told him that he had robbed his friend yesterday. Jack remembered the theft and apologized; had he known that he was stealing from poor travelers instead of a nobleman, as Raito's clothes suggested, he would never have taken their money. He invited them to come with him so he could return the money and have a chat, since Caelan in particular seemed to have a rather pressing issue. He led them around until they got to the Groggy Goose; heading in the back door, he took them upstairs to a meeting room where he invited them to sit down. As a woman named Lydia served them lunch, Caelan explained the dire straits of his people. Jack listened, more sympathetically than anyone else had in a long time, and offered to spread the word around town; he was sure that some people would jump at the offer of a welcome place outside of the capital, or its police jurisdiction. He also attempted to clarify Caelan's meaning of "warrior", since in his opinion that meant two things: "soldiers", who have formal training but are often not much good for anything other than following government orders, which are slow in coming, and "fighters", who are usually unpredictable people at the fringes of society, but who are good at what they do. Of the latter, Jack mentioned two people he knew: a man who loves fighting, and a terrorist known locally as the Hospital Bomber. The first apparently came into town a few weeks earlier, challenged everyone in the Goose to a fistfight, then had a spirited drink and moved on; apparently, he was headed to Midoro Mire, a place known for its strange, vicious creatures and difficult terrain. The second had come to the capital, conducted some regular but rather mysterious business with the Embers, then obliterated the hospital, after which he left. The Embers in other towns had been keeping an eye on him ever since, and have him located in a city to the east. Raito, silent until then, challenged Jack to a one-on-one duel to restore honour, where the loser would be beholden to the victor. After declaring it a non-lethal duel, Jack agreed, and the group moved out into the alleyway, where the two men fought it out. Jack won the victory, and took everything else in stride; Ragoom healed both parties, and after returning indoors, Jack initiated the party into the Ember Gang. The group talked for a while longer, discussing local politics, specifically Raito's and Caelan's weak grasp of them, and geography. Jack proved to be a revolutionary, wishing to bring more political power to the average man. He expressed doubt that Caelan had the whole picture regarding the hobgoblin army, and told them that Marilton was not three days away, as Johnson had said, but rather closer to two weeks. Eventually, the three decided to head towards the Midoro Mire to look for the fighter, and Jack bid them farewell. With the help of the Ember Gang, the three secured a ride on a barge headed down the Ridge River. Three days later, they found themselves on the edge of civilized land, not far from the cursed Midoro Mire. Category:Banishment of the Blackblades